Chapter 71: A Skirmish in Space

"So… when he said manually… what do you think he meant?" Danny asked.

"Likely we have to go to the satellite and punch in the buttons." Kim answered him.

Moments ago, James Possible had run to his family's van and trailer, reaching into the latter as he was digging around for something. Danny Fenton and Kim Possible followed him to see what he was looking for.

He found it.

"Aha! I knew it! Ever since the X-23 booster rocket disappeared earlier this year…"

Danny laughed nervously.

"Yeah… disappeared…"

"I've been at work to make a new, more durable version!" James pulled it out. "The X-23 version 2.0! Made possible by a Possible!"

Danny couldn't believe his eyes.

It was the X-23, the same jetpack he "borrowed" and lost to stop Technus once. It was almost exactly the same, save for a sticker on the side of James Possible giving a thumb's up.

Kim rolled her eyes when she saw that while Danny smirked.

And I thought only Dad did that…

"So… what's the plan?" Kim asked.

"Well… my intention was to use this as soon as we get home to launch to space in a ship, then reach the satellite. Although…" He started pondering. "There is one thing though… it will take us time to get back to Middleton."

"I'll do it!" Danny rose his hand, getting their attention. "I have a helmet and my ghost suit can protect me from the vacuum of space and re-entry."

"Hmm…" James thought out loud. "I suppose that would help us quicker…"

Kim, however, had a worried look on her face.

"Are you sure about this?" Kim asked.

"Yeah. Heck, the Specter Speeder has upgrades to help with potential space travel." Danny said. "Someone could come with me."

"Specter Speeder?" James asked, rather curiously.

"His parents built a hovership." Kim explained.

James looked genuinely intrigued.

"Well then, I'd love to see it…"

"Sure…" Danny said. "We just need an excuse to get them out of the house…"


To Danny's surprise, his parents were not home. There was a note on the door once he brought the Possible family home.

"Dear Jazz and Danny, your father and I saw those odd dragon things on the roof with that creepy anemic guy, Freakshow. Went off to follow them… Love, Mom." Jazz said as she read it.

Danny was startled.

"There were here?!" He asked. "Did they have the staff on them? Did they remake the Gauntlet?"

"What Gauntlet?" Slim asked.

"Long story." Jazz said as she opened the door. "Let's go."

Once everyone was inside, Danny brought Kim, Ron and James to the basement. There, James saw the Specter Speeder for the first time.

It brought a gasp to his face, one that weirded his daughter out.

"Uh… Dad?"

"It's… beautiful…" James uttered. "The size, simple shape… How are your folks not getting more respect for this?!"

Danny smiled to hear someone compliment his parents, though he still went to pull his helmet out of a nearby locker where he sometimes puts his personal stuff. That included the helmet.

He morphed and phased the helmet on his head.

"Okay… I'm all set." Danny said.

"So, you're going to take the Specter Speeder up there?" Kim asked.

"Sure thing."

"I think someone should go with you." James insisted.

"So, what if one of our bad guys get involved?" Kim asked.

"Hmm… that is true." James considered her words. "Well… I do have two spare space suits you and Ronald could use."

"You brought those with you?" Ron questioned.

"Prepared for any form of space travel." James insisted. "Now then… is this thing properly sealed for space travel?"

"Definitely." Danny said. "It can survive travel into another dimension, so yeah."

"Another dimension?" James asked.

Danny pointed to the Fenton Portal.

"That's our portal to the Ghost Zone."

James rose an eye brow and walked towards it. Once in close contact, he wen "Hmm" and poked his head in it.

"Whoa! Dad!" Kim shouted, running to pull him back out. "Please don't do that!"

"Fascinating…" James said. "I should like to work with your parents on this."

"Just remember, they don't know I'm Danny Phantom."

"Really?" James asked. "Why not tell them?"

"Uh…" Danny looked nervous and scratched his arm. "I… kind of don't know about that…"

Kim elbowed her father.

"Dad… not now…"

"Right, Kimmie-Cub. We can discuss this later."

"Right… save cartoons now!" Ron insisted proudly.

"Ron…" Kim groaned. "They don't want our cartoons…"

"You work with your theory and I work with mine!" Ron insisted.


What the heroes did not know was that a certain insect was watching.

And from Drakken's lair, Vlad was not happy about what he saw. With Dementor in the room with him, he had a hand on his forehead.

"This isn't good…" Vlad said. "If they reprogram the satellite… his royal pain will not he happy."

"Vhat do we do now?" He asked.

"Let me think…" Vlad pondered. "He needs Technus right now and I still have my own Plasmius Speeder ready for use…" He groaned. "If you want something done right…"


In minutes, using the emergency escape, the Specter Speeder launched, going straight up into space.

Kim, at the controls, with Ron at her side and Danny in the back. Rufus was notably absent, to Ron's disappointment.

"Sorry Ron." Kim said. "But Rufus will be safer at the house."

"I know…" Ron said.

"I don't know about safer…" Danny said. "Sam looked ticked about not coming, even after I said she and the rest should stay in case my folks came back or more trouble happens…"

Kim shook her head.

That girl is more stubborn than I am…

Ron shook his head.

That girl is more stubborn than Kim is…

She looked up. "Okay… you said we can make this thing go faster?"

"Right…" Danny said as he walked up and put his hand on a lever. "Hold on to your butts…"

He pulled it.

The Speeder's rockets thrusted much more powerfully and sped them up quicker.

Ron was screaming in panic while the other two were much calmer despite the G-Force.

Once they were past the Karman Line, Danny pushed the lever, slowing them down.

On response, Ron let go of the seat he gripped tightly.

"I can't believe I'm saying this… but I miss school…" He muttered. "I swear I won't complain about it on Monday…"

"Assuming we live to see Monday…" Kim said as she flew the Speeder in the direction of the satellite. That's when she saw it. "There it is!" She pointed towards it.

There is was, the satellite.

With that, Danny put the helmet and X-23 on.

"Alright…" Danny said as he stood with them on. "I'm all set." He heard Kim giggled, which he found adorable. "What is it?"

"You look like a little Spaceman with that on…" She said.

"Oh…" He blushed, which couldn't be seen though the helmet. "I see…"

He didn't know why, but he liked when she called him that. Spaceman.

Ron, who was oblivious to Danny's reaction, noticed something.

"Uh… who is that?"

Danny and Kim both directed their attention to what looked like another Specter Speeder approaching the satellite.

One that looked evil and had a V on the side.

Danny knew who it was and his brow furrowed.

"Plasmius…"

"Ah yes… hello Daniel." Vlad's voice came from the ship's audio systems.

Both Kim and Ron looked around for where that voice came from.

Danny pressed a button on the console. This made a small screen come out of the console. On it was the grinning face of Vlad Plasmius.

"Oh look who it is…" Kim said with her arms crossed and a very unpleasant look.

"Ah, Kimberly Ann Possible and… that guy…" Vlad said without much interest.

"Ron Stoppable!" Ron shouted.

"Who cares?" Vlad said flatly, earning a dirty look from Ron.

"What do you want, Plasmius? Why are you helping the Terakons?"

"To save my own skin, Daniel. They need the satellite to accomplish their plans." Vlad explained.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE OUR CARTOONS AWAY, YOU MONSTER!" Ron shouted as he rose from his chair.

Vlad rose a brow and had a rather annoyed look on his face.

"Cartoons? These are beasts from before the dawn of mankind! What could they possibly care about animated programming, you buffoon?!"

Ron was stunned silent, while Kim and Danny both smirked at his reaction.

"Wow…" Danny joked. "Who saw that comi- Wait, no. Too many hands… Who did NOT see that coming? Ron… raise your hand."

Ron scowled and turned his back to everyone with his arms crossed.

"So what do they want?" Kim asked.

"Do I look like Drakken to you?" Vlad questioned angrily. "All I can say is you're not getting in our way!"

That's when Vlad phased out of his ship, wearing a helmet for protection.

"I got this!" Danny shouted.

He phased out of the Specter Speeder and, with the X-23, boosted towards Vlad.

Vlad took notice of this and was surprised.

"What in the-"

Danny immediately tackled into Vlad, using his shoulder to hit his foe.

"Can we hurry this up?!" Danny questioned as he stopped, sending Vlad still flying due to the rules of space. "Kim's gotta head home…"

Vlad responded by readying his energy blasts.

"Fool! None of you will go home if you get in our way!"

Vlad started firing.

While Danny avoided blows, Kim flew the Specter Speeder to "park" it next to the satellite.

She got up and put the helmet on.

"I'll punch in the buttons, you keep this thing in place."

"Got it, KP!" Ron said as he took the driver's seat.

After pressing the button that separating the seats with wall to protect from the vacuum, Kim let herself out of and drift to the satellite.

Meanwhile, Danny was avoiding blasts as he fired a ghost ray at Vlad, who blocked with a shield.

"What does Thirorex want, Vlad?!"

"To take this world that I should be ruling!" Vlad shouted. "But once I get the chance… I will use the restored Reality Gauntlet to be rid of them…"

Danny paused when he heard that. He thought this was terrible.

"So… the Gauntlet isn't destroyed anymore…"

"And once I get it as a reward, I'll deal with you and those beasts, making them serve the one who brought them back from extinction!" Vlad declared.

Danny rolled his eyes.

Still, he resumed his fight. He avoided Vlad's blasts and flew to his foe.

He managed to land a punch to Vlad's stomach.

Vlad responded with a backhand.

As Danny was knocked back, Kim was at the side of the satellite. There, she opened where a keypad was hidden. There, she started typing.

"Okay… if I do this right… I can lock these creeps out…" Kim said.

She then started typing.


In Drakken's Lair, the mad scientist was on his laptop, typing away. He was laughing evilly.

"It's working!" Drakken said. "We have full con-" That's when something happened that made his laugh stop. "Oh doodles…"

"What is it, Doctor D?" Shego asked.

"It looks like I'm… getting shut out?!" He asked. "GAH! Only one person could be getting in my way! Kim Possible!"

That's when a roar occurred that made the two of them flinch in fear.

Through the sunroof, Thirorex stared down at them.

"What is going on?! How is this girl interfering off world?!" He demanded.

"Uh…" Both of them exchanged rather terrified looks.

"Good chance she and her new phantom pal took a shuttle or something… Not sure how you'd handle that…" Shego said nervously. "We don't exactly have access to a ship right now…"

Thirorex's eyes squinted. To their relief, he did not attack them. Instead, he looked into the skies.

"It's a good thing we've found more…"


Vlad fired his blasts while Danny would go left and right to avoid the attacks.

"You can't defeat me, Daniel! I still have years more experience with powers than you!"

Vlad was about to throw a right hook, but Danny caught it and, with some quick motion, swung Vlad over his head and then kick him away, causing his archenemy some great pain.

"But has the most kickbutt cheerleader ever shown you some hand-to-hand combat? I think not!" Danny said.

Vlad, once able to stop drifting off and turn around, laughed it off. But, to his shock, he's too late to stop Danny from throwing a punch that sent him further away.

Getting annoyed, Vlad was about to fire at Danny. However, the ghost boy used the X-23 to boost out of the way.

As Vlad groaned in frustration, Kim is still typing.

"Okay… so far Dad's password is working. I just gotta finish programming and it'll lock out all hacking…"

As Ron sat in his seat, waiting, he saw something odd. He then turned on the two-way radio in the suit.

"Uh… KP. Quick question about space…"

"Can it wait, Ron?" She asked impatiently.

"Not really… No. But it's quick, I swear…"

Kim sighed. "Fine, what is it? I'm almost finished…"

"Since when does a large black fireball leave Earth to space?"

Kim stopped typing, surprised by that question.

"Uh… never?" She answered with a question.

"Then what's coming towards us?"

Kim looked towards the Earth. That's where she saw it.

It was big, black, and fiery. And it was coming towards them.

Her eyes widened.

"What the heck…?"

Danny and Vlad stopped their fight when they also noticed it.

Vlad had a look of horror on his face.

"Oh… honey biscuits…" He uttered in horror.

The black, fiery entity arrived towards them. Once it did, they saw a shape.

The shape of a humanoid Tyrannosaurus Rex with a muscular upperbody and wings.

In the dark flames was Thirorex, who snarled at them all.

All of them were agape at his presence, especially in space.

"Uh… how is he in space?" Danny asked.

"That… element he uses…" Vlad uttered. "Its power is unlike anything I've ever…"

"What are you doing?!" Thirorex shouted to Vlad. "That girl is there, preventing this device from being of use!" He shouted.

Danny blinked in surprise.

"Wait… how is he talking? There's no sound out here and we're using radios to talk…" Danny noticed Vlad was gawking at him in surprise, to his annoyance. "Junior astronaut, remember?"

"I can only assume it's the Dark Plasma…" Vlad answered him.

"Now… I shall destroy you!" Thirorex shouted.

He then attempted his dragonbreath. To everyone's surprise, his through light up in red.

Reacting fast, Ron pulled Kim in.

"Come on!" He said fast.

"I wasn't done!" Kim argued.

"If we don't go, we're WELL done!"

He went straight to the pedal and slammed on it, making the Speeder fly away fast. It got out of the way before Thirorex could hit them with his red flames.

Danny chose to ignore Vlad and went straight to aid them. He turned the X-23 to the highest setting it can go without exploding like last time.

He flew fast, and towards the giant foe.

"Get lost, Barney!"

Danny fired his ghost rays, but they did nothing. Surprised but not undaunted, Danny continued. While they did no harm, they did get his attention.

It wasn't good.

"Foul pest!"

Danny didn't stop flying towards his foe.

But once he was in close reach, the larger foe backhanded him.

The force was enough to send Danny flying far. Very far. In fact, Danny was halfway to the moon.

With that done, Thirorex turned to see the Specter Speeder, now attempting to escape.

With an evil grin, he readied for another blast.

Danny finally regained consciousness and looked to what was happening. He gasped in horror.

"Oh no…"

Thirorex fires a blast. It hits the back of the Specter Speeder and sends it hurdling towards Earth.

Panicked, Danny turned the X-23 to full power and flew past the large dragon, towards the Speeder.

Inside, Kim was knocked out when they were hit by the blast. This left Ron to try and pilot. Even as the Speeder entered the Earth's atmosphere, he was doing his best to pull up.

"Come on! Come on!" He insisted. Even as he pulled, nothing happened. "No good… the engines must be out…" He muttered miserably.

However, his eyes darted to his unconscious friend, who hit her head on the counter and went out could.

He steeled himself.

I gotta think of something…

Seeing all the buttons in front of him, Ron had an idea.

"One of these has to be a parachute or something…"

He keeps pressing buttons.

Outside, Danny is around to reach the Speeder, but the heat emitting from the back causes him to pull his arms back.

"OUCH! It's too hot!" He says. "I gotta freeze it!"

Danny puts his hands together and creates a ball of cold energy. He tosses it, but it doesn't cool it down enough.

Still too hot…

Inside, Ron kept pressing buttons. They were doing nothing.

Please… please… please…

Then he hit one button.

Outside, on the roof of the Speeder, a parachute was released.

After sudden motion that was done by the parachute, the ship, now back in Earth's skies, was slowly descending.

Ron realized what just happened. He had a relieved look on his face.

"BOO-YAH!" He shouted with his arms up.

However, the shock exhausted him and he fell back into his seat, out cold.

Seeing the ship now with a parachute, Danny turned the X-23 down. He then used his own powers to fly to the ship.

Once he got to it, he used his strength to catch the ship and fly down to the nearest ground he could find.

He saw a mountainside and carried the Speeder to a clearing at the foot of the mountain.

He didn't bother to see if anyone was there, much less if he's near civilization, as he landed.

He placed the Speeder down and quickly phased into the ship.

He saw both Kim and Ron unconscious. He panicked but checked, finding they both still had a pulse. He calmed down.

He now realized Ron was the one in the driver's seat. He knew the placement of the parachute button and came to a conclusion when he saw that Kim, in the passenger seat and her hands were to her sides, that Ron was the one who pressed the button.

Seeing this, he smiled.

"Nice Ron. I got new respect for you…"

"Mmm…"

He heard from Kim, who he saw moving her head. She was stirring awake.

"Kim?"

She opened her eyes. She blinked for a moment when she saw where she was.

"Danny?" She had heard his voice. When she looked to her left and gasped. "Ron?"

"He's okay." Danny said. "He has a pulse and I think he's the one who pushed the parachute button."

Kim blinked and looked outside.

"Where are we?"

"I didn't see…" Danny answered. "I think we're in Oregon…"

Kim got up, noticing she's still in the bulky spacesuit.

"Can you… get me out of this?"

Danny, taking the helmet off and letting the X-23 hit the floor when he took it off, nodded.

"No problem…"

He reached for her shoulders. That's when she held a hand up.

"You're not gonna phase my clothes off, are you?" She asked with a small smile.

Danny turned red.

"No! Of course not!" Danny said before his blush went away. "Now then…"

His hands went to her shoulders.

Using intangibility, he phased the spacesuit off. Kim pulled her legs out to get completely out of the suit.

"Thanks."

"No worries…" Danny said with a smile.

"You can let go now…"

"Huh?" He remembered he was still holding Kim by her shoulders and let go fast. "Uh… sorry…"

Kim smiled at this, though it was replaced with a worried look.

"I didn't finish. They've got control over that satellite now…"

Danny shared her reaction.

"Oh no…"

Disappointed but not done, Kim reached for her Kimmunicator from her pocket.

"Let's see…" Danny moved out of the way so she can get out. As she did, she held her device up. "If there's a signal, Wade should pick it up…"

Danny followed her out. He saw her behind the Speeder, still with the device in her hand and over her head.

"What now?" Danny asks.

"I'm not sure…" Kim said in a huff before putting the Kimmunicator back in her pocket. "Usually, this gets resolved in one, maybe two, days…" She gave a sigh. "This… is the toughest sitch I've been in so far…"

"I know what you mean…" Danny says. "Usually, this gets resolved faster than this and we all learn some lesson about honesty or being responsible or something like that…"

Kim let out a breath.

"What now?"

Seeing the worried look on her face, Danny decided to put on a brave face for her.

"We're not down yet…" He said. "Whatever they want to have happen hasn't happened yet. We still have a window of a chance…"

Kim smiled.

"You really think so?"

"We have to. We're heroes, after all, right?" Danny asked with a smile. "Even Ron, since he set off the parachute. Seriously, I got massive respect for that."

That made Kim's smile much warmer.

Danny blushed when he took notice and rubbed the back of his head.

He just complimented someone he secretly considers a rival for Kim's affections, and it's made Kim happy to hear it.

She then knelt forward a bit to get to eye level with him.

"You are mature for your age, aren't you?"

"Not really…" Danny said as he now rubbed an arm. "I still burp out loud and think it's funny…"

Kim chuckled a little, feeling much better.

"Okay… you're mature enough…"

As Danny took a moment to process that, Kim started moving her face closer.

Realizing what's about to happen, they both close their eyes and-

The Kimmunicator goes off.

Pulling away from each other, Danny and Kim maintained composure as she pulled her device out.

"Wade?"

"Kim, where are you guys?"

"Somewhere in Oregon… meaning away from the satellite… Anything happening?"

"That's just it… Nothing has happened so far." Wade said.

"Nothing?" Kim asked.

"Whatever they need it for hasn't happened yet. We're safe… relatively speaking…"

"Can you get us a lift?" Kim asked. "Get me and Ron back to Middleton and Danny back to Amity Park?"

Danny took notice of her words.

"I'll have something in a half hour." Wade said as he began typing. "I'll get in touch soon…"

The transmission ended. That's when Kim noticed the look on Danny's face.

"Well… I do have to go home… right?"

"Y-Yeah… right…" He said somberly as he looked away.

That's when Kim cupped his chin and directed to her.

"If you want… I'm free tomorrow… for training?" She said with a smile.

Danny smiled back.

"Sure. One on one?"

"If you want…" Kim answered.

"KP? Danny?"

Ron's voice caught their attention.

They saw him stumbling out of the Specter Speeder. Relieved, Kim let Dany and hugged her best friend.

Though Ron was too disoriented from what happened to notice, Danny looked at the sight with a little heartbreak.

He steeled himself.

They're just friends… that's it.

Kim let Ron go.

"You okay? Danny says you hit the parachute."

"Yeah…" Ron looked around. "I-" His eyes opened up. "Wait… I know where we are!"

"You do?" Kim asked.

Ron quickly perked up.

"There's a Smarty Mart in a nearby town! I know because I saw this mountain in the background picture when they opened it!"

Danny now had an amused look on his face.

"Like a kid finding a candy store…"

"Oh, that's right! This week is half of a ton of candy!" Ron went as he immediately started running in the direction of the nearest town. "Come on! Candy's on me!"

Kim had her hands on her hips as she smiled and shook her head.

"He'll be fine…" She started following him, looking briefly at Danny. "Come on. He'll probably want to buy Pop Pop Porter's Corndogs too…"

Danny looked puzzled, but shrugged as he followed.

"As long as it's not Bueno Nacho…" He said under his breath.


Spot the reference to After Many Dates: Danny and Kim?

Anyway, thanks to Flower Princess11 and CMR Rosa for looking at what I got.

One day off from all this craziness is next... before more craziness.

Ron saving the day last minute is going to continue. I got a few more moments that shows he's not useless. I actually do like Ron and will show his competency a bit more.

Meanwhile, what's coming next in the master plan?

We'll see soon enough...

Luiz4200: He got to use it, he may use it again later.

Jebest4781: Thanks.

Phantom Fan 21: Wait and see.

Leonardo: Can't say how it ends. I also have concepts for the next stories ready.

MeteorElDrago: Wait and see.